Oh hell yeah, 2020 just got a little better.
Oh hell yeah, 2020 just got a little better.
"The Bill of Rights says nothing about the freedom of hearing. This, of course, takes a lot of the fun out of the freedom of speech." - Pat Paulsen
My Art- http://www.facebook.com/williamallenrenfro -My Life
Super cool!
But why would it be 3-LP's? 91 minutes would be two 45-minute LP's. Right?
Did you notice they're all standing kinda close to the edge?Originally Posted by Kcrimso
They got cover art from Yes and album name from King Crimson. How bad can this be?
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Well, I'll be getting it, but my expectations are pretty low after the last 3 albums. Don't get me wrong, none of them were "bad", but none of them really made me feel anything and they all lacked the "magic" of the albums from the 90's and early 2000's. IMO, naturally.
I think the cover art is fine, though I agree that it's a bit cliche for prog bands these days to use Dean's art work and I really think it's too closely associated with Yes to really make sense for other bands. Though TFK's are the most "Yes-like" group of the "modern" prog bands so I guess it suits them.
I will listen without bias and certainly with no expectations. I have no doubt at all that the playing will be excellent and the Roine will deliver great solos, as he always does. Anyway, I feel like I'm judging it before I even have a clue what it sounds like, and I don't want to do that. I'll just have to see how it is when it gets released.
Well 2020 started off giving us a kick in the nuts with Neil's death and then COVID....but it will end with new albums from Transatlantic, Neal Morse and the Flower Kings! Let's hope this upwards trend continues
First, I don't get the problem with the cover - it looks simply excellent to me. I'll definitley pick this one up.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
I am having trouble not letting expectations for this one get a bit out of hand. A few factors that lead me to that:
- Roine hasn't been touring
- The previously posted quotes from band members
- I don't think Roine has been involved in too many (any?) other projects in recent months? Someone please correct me if they've heard otherwise...
- Comments from Mirkko on Facebook about adding percussion parts (he could have been discussing another project with another band)
So I'm hoping the available time and attention on this one will result in something more detailed like back on the earlier albums.
As far as factors that reduce my expectations:
More recent albums seemed more rushed and/or stripped down. The drumming on the last one, while very competently executed, was a bit on the vanilla side. Hopefully the rhythm section is more interesting this time out, but as long as the playing serves the songs well that's mainly what matters.
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Since TFK have been in many ways the "new Yes" (in my humble opinion) for several years, I think it's awesome that they got Roger Dean for this album art. Absolutely no complaints from me at all.
Regarding my excitement for this album, it's... pretty high. I liked Banks of Eden a lot, I loved Desolation Rose, and Waiting for Miracles has grown on me quite a bit. I still miss Tomas, but Zach is no slouch and he fits right in with the band -- even adding some new flavors that are a bit different for TFK. So, I feel confident the band can deliver, but I'm going to try to keep my expectations on the realistic side.
I thought Waiting for Miracles was a pleasant surprise. The word I used to describe it at the time was: relaxed. If it weren't for that album, my expectations would be pretty tempered.
Even then, it's still a bit tempered. Less is more sometimes. That it's another double album just makes it that much harder to live up to/provide consistency. In any event however, I will still be buying it.
I don't have a "problem" with it, but I honestly thought it was some sort of bootleg when I first saw it. It looks like someone zoomed in on a portion of a former Roger Dean cover, slapped the FK logo where it doesn't work, and just typed the word "Islands". I suspect the artwork continues on the back and maybe it's a more complete picture. But it won't win any "album art of the year" awards from me.
WANTED: Sig-worthy quote.
I had intended to comment earlier on the "double album" aspect of this. This one seems different. There appears to have been no attempt to fill up two complete discs as on past double albums The two discs are 49 minutes and 43 minutes, which I find much more easily digestible these days.
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6 sides x 15 minutes each I suppose. Better sound quality.
Or, perhaps it could be a deep philosophical piece of prose something akin to:
I never thought I'd get to be a million
I never thought I'd get to be the thing
That all these other children see
Look at me...
We'll find out soon.
Or, will we?
Don't forget new album from The Tangent just landed - it could be their best ever. Also new Pain of Salvation which I'm still waiting to receive.Well 2020 started off giving us a kick in the nuts with Neil's death and then COVID....but it will end with new albums from Transatlantic, Neal Morse and the Flower Kings! Let's hope this upwards trend continues
The only other project we know about for sure is Transatlantic 5 - most of it was done before pandemic but I'm sure there were some parts he re-worked on while also working on this new Flower Kings . (I suppose Anderson / Stolt 2 is another possibility but that one is in perpetual 'about half way done' status) I wonder how Roine composes for these different projects and if he had a bulk of material at the ready for when Transatlantic called?
I also took Mirkko's comments about adding percussion parts as being it was for this FK album
I agree somewhat about the drumming on the last one but I think that was more of a conscious design/mixing choice, it was certainly a change from the sharp drum sound on those two Felix albums - you could hear every hit on those. So the change was nice for me and gave it a totally different sound environment and mood.
But I'm just going to go ahead and let my expectations get out of hand for this new one too - lol. We KNOW it won't be a bad album. So even if it isn't quite reaching to SwA or UtF - just having new FK is most welcome.
It's not always possible to evenly divide songs into 4 22 minute sides. Unless it's done like old 8-track tapes in which a song would fade out in the middle, the channel would change, and the song fade back in. Otherwise, the combined time of 3 songs would all too often add up to, say, 33 minutes. By subtracting one of them, it then drops to 18 minutes. You get the picture.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
I had forgotten about the Transatlantic album, but I kind of assume that work wouldn't take up too much of his time if the larger framework of the songs is already done.
As far as the drumming goes, I guess that's a part of music I always tend to focus on and also my son is a drummer who tends to point out certain details I hadn't considered. The last TFK album bothers him more than it does me. In the end I did end up enjoying most of the songs and that's the main thing. If there's not a lot of instrumental fireworks I'll get over it.
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The Flower Kings have never released a poor album. This will be no exception.
I'm excited. I love the Roger Dean cover. I mean, why not? Kinda makes sense - more so than doing artwork for Focus or White Willow.
The Prog Corner
Including "The Rainmaker"?
Good point.
I like The Rainmaker (well, most of it). More than the lastest-ish stuff anyway.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
Last Minute on Earth, World Without a Heart, Road To Sanctuary, City of Angels, Blessing of a Smile, Red Alert, Serious Dreamers all great/good songs to me. Nothing on it I would call 'poor'
Asking me today I would rank the albums this way - I'm hesitant to even rank WfM because it still seems so new, over time it could go up or down, Desolation Rose is a good example of an album that when it first came out I probably ranked in the middle or lower but it has aged really well for me and I now rank it 3rd best!
(usual caveats apply that tomorrow this could look completely different and even #15 is a great album to me)
1. Stardust We Are
2. Unfold the Future
3. Desolation Rose
4. Flower Power
5. Space Revolver
6. Retropolis
7. The Flower King
8. Back in the World of Adventures
9. The Rainmaker
10. Waiting for Miracles
11. The Sum of No Evil
12. Adam & Eve
13. Banks of Eden
14. Manifesto of an Alchemist
15. Paradox Hotel
My ranking, obviously only of the ones I have, with the dividing line between the ones I like and the not so muchs:
1. Space Revolver
2. Flower Power
3. Stardust We Are
4. Back in the World of Adventures
5. The Flower King
-----------------------
6. Retropolis
7. The Rainmaker
I like most of The Rainmaker too. Last Minute on Earth, Road to Sanctuary, City of Angels, and Serious Dreamers -- those are all fantastic songs, IMO.
World Without A Heart is a lovely tune also.
100% agree, Rainmaker is possibly my fave FK album, closely followed by Space Revolver.
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